Executive Order Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect Americans

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
laws of the United States of America, and in order to further
strengthen the effective conduct of United States intelligence
activities and protect the territory, people, and interests of the
United States of America, including against terrorist attacks, it is
hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. To the maximum extent consistent with
applicable law, agencies shall, in the design and use of information
systems and in the dissemination of information among agencies:

(a) give the highest priority to (i) the detection, prevention,
disruption, preemption, and mitigation of the effects of terrorist
activities against the territory, people, and interests of the United
States of America, (ii) the interchange of terrorism information among
agencies, (iii) the interchange of terrorism information between
agencies and appropriate authorities of States and local governments,
and (iv) the protection of the ability of agencies to acquire
additional such information; and

(b) protect the freedom, information privacy, and other legal
rights of Americans in the conduct of activities implementing
subsection (a).

Sec. 2. Duty of Heads of Agencies Possessing or Acquiring
Terrorism Information. To implement the policy set forth in section 1
of this order, the head of each agency that possesses or acquires
terrorism information:

(a) shall promptly give access to the terrorism information to the
head of each other agency that has counterterrorism functions, and
provide the terrorism information to each such agency in accordance
with the standards and information sharing guidance issued pursuant to
this order, unless otherwise directed by the President, and consistent
with (i) the statutory responsibilities of the agencies providing and
receiving the information, (ii) any guidance issued by the Attorney
General to fulfill the policy set forth in subsection 1(b) of this
order, and (iii) other applicable law, including section 103(c)(7) of
the National Security Act of 1947, section 892 of the Homeland Security
Act of 2002, Executive Order 12958 of April 17, 1995, as amended, and
Executive Order 13311 of July 29, 2003;

(b) shall cooperate in and facilitate production of reports based
on terrorism information with contents and formats that permit
dissemination that maximizes the utility of the information in
protecting the territory, people, and interests of the United States;
and

(c) shall facilitate implementation of the plan developed by the
Information Systems Council established by section 5 of this order.

Sec. 3. Preparing Terrorism Information for Maximum Distribution
within Intelligence Community. To assist in expeditious and effective
implementation by agencies within the Intelligence Community of the
policy set forth in section 1 of this order, the Director of Central
Intelligence shall, in consultation with the Attorney General and the
other heads of agencies within the Intelligence Community, set forth
not later than 90 days after the date of this order, and thereafter as
appropriate, common standards for the sharing of terrorism information
by agencies within the Intelligence Community with (i) other agencies
within the Intelligence Community, (ii) other agencies having
counterterrorism functions, and (iii) through or in coordination with
the Department of Homeland Security, appropriate authorities of State
and local governments. These common standards shall improve
information sharing by such methods as:

(a) requiring, at the outset of the intelligence collection and
analysis process, the creation of records and reporting, for both raw
and processed information including, for example, metadata and content,
in such a manner that sources and methods are protected so that the
information can be distributed at lower classification levels, and by
creating unclassified versions for distribution whenever possible;

(b) requiring records and reports related to terrorism information
to be produced with multiple versions at an unclassified level and at
varying levels of classification, for example on an electronic tearline
basis, allowing varying degrees of access by other agencies and
personnel commensurate with their particular security clearance levels
and special access approvals;

(c) requiring terrorism information to be shared free of
originator controls, including, for example, controls requiring the
consent of the originating agency prior to the dissemination of the
information outside any other agency to which it has been made
available, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Executive
Orders, or Presidential guidance;

(d) minimizing the applicability of information
compartmentalization systems to terrorism information, to the maximum
extent permitted by applicable law, Executive Orders, and Presidential
guidance; and

Sec. 4. Requirements for Collection of Terrorism Information
Inside the United States. (a) The Attorney General, the Secretary of
Homeland Security, and the Director of Central Intelligence shall, not
later than 90 days after the date of this order, jointly submit to the
President, through the Assistants to the President for National
Security Affairs and Homeland Security, their recommendation on the
establishment of executive branch-wide collection and sharing
requirements, procedures, and guidelines for terrorism information to
be collected within the United States, including, but not limited to,
from publicly available sources, including nongovernmental databases.

(b) The recommendation submitted under subsection (a) of this
section shall also:

(i) address requirements and guidelines for the collection and sharing of other information necessary to protect the territory, people, and interests of the United States; and

(ii) propose arrangements for ensuring that officers of the United States with responsibilities for protecting the territory, people, and interests of the United States are provided with clear, understandable, consistent, effective, and lawful procedures and guidelines for the collection, handling, distribution, and retention of information.

Sec. 5. Establishment of Information Systems Council. (a) There
is established an Information Systems Council (Council), chaired by a
designee of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and
composed exclusively of designees of: the Secretaries of State, the
Treasury, Defense, Commerce, Energy, and Homeland Security; the
Attorney General; the Director of Central Intelligence; the Director of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Director of the National
Counterterrorism Center, once that position is created and filled (and
until that time the Director of the Terrorism Threat Integration
Center); and such other heads of departments or agencies as the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget may designate.

(b) The mission of the Council is to plan for and oversee the
establishment of an interoperable terrorism information sharing
environment to facilitate automated sharing of terrorism information
among appropriate agencies to implement the policy set forth in section
1 of this order.

(c) Not later than 120 days after the date of this order, the
Council shall report to the President through the Assistants to the
President for National Security Affairs and Homeland Security, on a
plan, with proposed milestones, timetables for achieving those
milestones, and identification of resources, for the establishment of
the proposed interoperable terrorism information sharing environment.
The plan shall, at a minimum:

(i) describe and define the parameters of the proposed
interoperable terrorism information sharing environment, including functions, capabilities, and resources;

(ii) identify and, as appropriate, recommend the consolidation and elimination of current programs, systems, and processes used by agencies to share terrorism information, and recommend as appropriate the redirection of existing resources to support the interoperable terrorism information sharing environment;

(iii) identify gaps, if any, between existing technologies, programs, and systems used by agencies to share terrorism information and the parameters of the proposed interoperable terrorism information sharing environment;

(iv) recommend near-term solutions to address any such gaps until the interoperable terrorism information sharing environment can be established;

(v) recommend a plan for implementation of the interoperable terrorism information sharing environment, including roles and responsibilities, measures of success, and deadlines for the development and implementation of functions and capabilities from the initial stage to full operational capability;

(vi) recommend how the proposed interoperable terrorism information sharing environment can be extended to allow
interchange of terrorism information between agencies and appropriate
authorities of States and local governments; and

(vii) recommend whether and how the interoperable terrorism information sharing environment should be expanded, or designed so as to allow future expansion, for purposes of encompassing other categories of intelligence and information.

Sec. 6. Definitions. As used in this order:

(a) the term "agency" has the meaning set forth for the term
"executive agency" in section 105 of title 5, United States Code,
together with the Department of Homeland Security, but includes the
Postal Rate Commission and the United States Postal Service and
excludes the Government Accountability Office;

(b) the terms "Intelligence Community" and "agency within the
Intelligence Community" have the meanings set forth for those terms in
section 3.4(f) of Executive Order 12333 of December 4, 1981, as
amended;

(c) the terms "local government," "State," and, when used in a
geographical sense, "United States," have the meanings set forth for
those terms in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C.
101); and

(d) the term "terrorism information" means all information,
whether collected, produced, or distributed by intelligence, law
enforcement, military, homeland security, or other United States
Government activities, relating to (i) the existence, organization,
capabilities, plans, intentions, vulnerabilities, means of finance or
material support, or activities of foreign or international terrorist
groups or individuals, or of domestic groups or individuals involved in
transnational terrorism; (ii) threats posed by such groups or
individuals to the United States, United States persons, or United
States interests, or to those of other nations; (iii) communications of
or by such groups or individuals; or (iv) information relating to
groups or individuals reasonably believed to be assisting or associated
with such groups or individuals.

Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) This order:

(i) shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law, including Federal law protecting the information privacy and other legal rights of Americans, and subject to the availability of appropriations;

(ii) shall be implemented in a manner consistent with the authority of the principal officers of agencies as heads of their respective agencies, including under section 199 of the Revised

Statutes (22 U.S.C. 2651), section 201 of the Department of Energy Reorganization Act (42 U.S.C. 7131), section 102(a) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 403(a)), section 102(a) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 112(a)), and sections 301 of title 5, 113(b) and 162(b) of title 10, 1501 of title 15, 503 of title 28, and 301(b) of title 31, United States Code; and (iii) shall not be construed to impair or otherwise affect the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budget, administrative, and legislative proposals.

(b) This order is intended only to improve the internal management
of the Federal Government and is not intended to, and does not, create
any rights or benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law
or in equity by a party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.